The groundbreaking achievement shows that it is possible to cure T1D in large animals with 1 session of gene therapy. The researchers were from Universit at Autònoma de Barcelona and the findings were published in Diabetes.

The therapy involves injections of treatments that induce gene therapy. As shown, the therapy stimulated a two-fold approach. The insulin gene, on the one hand, and that of glucokinase, on the other.

Glucokinase is an enzyme that regulates the uptake of glucose from the blood. Together, both genes work as a glucose sensor, and regulates the uptake of glucose from the blood.

The study has proved the gene threapy to be safe and effective. It is based on a treatment that has been successful in treating several diseases. A similar drug of this type is Glybera.

The study is the first to report optimal long-term control of diabetes in large animals. This had never before been achieved with any other innovative therapies for diabetes.

Rest assured, this group already tested their gene therapy on mice. It worked on small animals. Now they’ve proven it works in large animals. What next? The study paves the way for the clinical translation of this approach to gene therapy to veterinary medicine, and eventually to diabetic patients.